Letting Go
by TinkBuck
Summary: Jack wakes up trapped in complete darkness, but he soon realizes that he's not alone.
1. Chapter 1

Unfortunately I don't own Lost nor the beautiful song Don't Speak, but the song inspired me to write this fic.

**The story is dedicated to my beloved sister, who did let go.**

**Rest in Peace Evie**

_You and me_

_We used to be together_

_Everyday together always_

_I really feel_

_That I'm losing my best friend_

_I can't believe_

_This could be the end_

_It looks as though you're letting go_

_And if it's real_

_Well I don't want to know_

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**Letting Go**

Jack felt dead. He couldn't move a muscle, nor could he open his eyes. He felt cold and numb. Maybe he _was_ dead?

Trying desperately to open his eyes, Jack concentrated on the muscles in his eyelids. He could feel himself take a deep breath, inhaling dusty but at the same time sweet air. Finally getting his eyes open, Jack was met by complete darkness. Feeling his head starting to spin, he closed his eyes again, disappointed that the effort of opening them had given him nothing.

He had a feeling that he had been drugged, he couldn't actually remember them injecting him with anything, but he felt groggy, hung-over almost.

Feeling a sharp pain across his back, Jack let out a small groan. At least whatever they had given him was wearing off, Jack thought to himself.

The odd and disturbing feeling of numbness had disappeared, leaving him more aware of his surroundings. He was lying on his stomach, resting heavily on something that was definitely not the cold cement floor he had been on earlier.

Whatever it was, it unexpectedly moved underneath him. The motion startled him, making him regain more control of his body as he forcefully moved back attempting to get into a sitting position.

Jack didn't get more than a few inches until the back of his head crashed into something hard, forcing him back down. Placing his hand on the flat surface to the left while his right shoulder brushed against the solid wall on the opposite side. Realizing that he was trapped, Jack felt his heartbeat speeding up.

Turning his attention back down, he immediately realized what it was he was lying on top of. Kate.

Checking her pulse, Jack let out a relieved breath when he felt the faint rhythm under his fingers. She was alive. They had probably given her whatever it was they had injected him with. If the had given her the same dose, it was logical that it would take her smaller body longer to wear off the effects.

Jack had propped himself up on his elbows, trying desperately not to squeeze Kate's body with his own. He could feel his arms instantly starting to shake from the effort of holding his body in a hovering position. His breathing picked up pace within seconds and his head once more started spinning.

"Kate…" Jack said softly in an attempt to wake up the unconscious brunette. He felt his nose brush against hers as he tried to ease his weight over to the left arm instead of the right.

"Jack?" His name left her lips as a breathless whisper.

"Yeah it's me. Are you okay?" He was gazing down at her, hoping that his eyes would adjust to the darkness enough for him to be able to see her face.

When no answer came, he let out a defeated sigh.

Jack's arms started to get numb, forcing him to give in to his exhaustion and ease his weight down, once more resting on Kate.

He could feel her move restively underneath him. "Jack? What's going on?" Her voice was faint, sounding dazed with sleep. He could tell she had trouble breathing, each breath making it more irregular.

"It's okay. Just relax." Jack said softly as he made a new attempt to balance himself on his elbows. He instantly realized that there was no chance that he was strong enough to keep himself up on his arms more than a minute. Feeling like his head would explode any second, Jack came up with a new plan.

"Kate…" He started gently, hoping to get her attention. "I want you to wrap your arms around me"

"What?" She sounded confused, and if possible even more dazed than before.

"Just do it" Jack said more firmly as he let out a sigh.

He felt one of Kate's hands lazily being placed on his back. Waiting a few seconds for a second one, Jack told himself that she was still under the effect of the drug and probably not able to move as she wished.

Accepting the fact that only one of her arms were around him, Jack used all his energy to flip them over. He could feel his back scrape against the ceiling of whatever they were trapped in. Maybe this hadn't been such a good idea after all. He had been unsure if there was enough space for them actually switch places, but he had come to the conclusion that it was worth a shot. Kate let out a painful moan just as Jack felt his back rest down flat on the floor.

He let his head fall down to the cold bottom, thankful that he had managed switch position with her. She was now resting heavily on his chest, her head buried in his neck, much like he had been seconds earlier. He felt bad for causing her more pain than she had already been in, but the fact that she was no longer being squeezed by his 180 pounds heavy body made it worth it.

Staring into the darkness, Jack reached up and let his hands trace over the hard partition above them that was keeping them confined from the outside world. He could tell that it was wood, which was also the only thing he could make out in the dark. That, and that it was solid, he couldn't budge it a millimeter. Trying the walls on his side, Jack got them same results.

Letting one of his arms fall to his side, Jack gently placed his right hand on Kate's back, soothingly tracing small circles on her tank top. Feeling her breathe against his neck, Jack felt a lot better knowing for sure that she was still alive. It worried him that she was completely groggy, acting as if she had drunk several bottles of alcohol. Not that he knew what Kate would be like drunk but he had a feeling she would be the dozy kind of drunk, not the giggling one dancing on tables. Not that he wouldn't want to see a giggling, half naked Kate, dancing on a bar counter.

Feeling his fingers getting sticky, Jack stopped moving them. Gently rubbing his thumb and index finger together behind Kate's back, Jack got a pretty good idea what the warm substance on his fingers was.

"Kate…" Jack said stressed, fear evident in his voice. "Are you hurt? Are you in any pain?"

Letting his hand move up to her face, Jack tried to get her attention by stroking her cheek. "Kate?"

"I'm cold" A faint voice whispered back.

Jack let out a soft sigh, hoping that her low temperature was not an ffect from losing a large amount of blood. "Kate, do you know if you're hurt?"

The only answer he got was a faint whimper, which sent chills through his body.

Once more moving his hands to her back, Jack went into his doctor mode, mechanically letting his hands run over her body, instinctively looking for signs of any kind of injury. Tracing his hands down her arms, shoulders and down her back, Jack was unable to find what he had been looking for.

Kate let out a small gasp as Jack's hands moved down her backside to her thighs, still methodically looking for an open wound. "Jack? What are you doing?" Sounding more alert than before, Kate moved slightly trying to get away from his touch.

"I think you're hurt. I have blood on my fingers I just can't find where it's coming from." Jack let out suppressed sob. He had a hard time focusing, knowing that Kate might be badly injured.

"Are you in any pain?" He tried again, now hoping to get an answer since she had sounded more alert than before.

"A bit" Kate answered jadedly.

Jack could feel his heart starting to beat fast. "Where?"

"Everywhere" There was a light chuckle hidden in her voice.

Jack understood what she meant. He had the same feeling in his body, like he had been hit by a truck and then dragged behind it for several blocks.

Kate shifted slightly on him, moving her head to his other shoulder. "Jack, where are we?"

"I don't know" From what he had managed to take in of their surroundings, Jack was actually quite sure of where they were. Maybe not geographically, but he had a pretty good idea of what they were in. He just didn't want to say his suspicions out loud, knowing it would frighten Kate.

He could hear her swallow a sob, which made it feel like something inside him broke. "We're in a coffin aren't we?"

Jack let out a defeated sigh. "Yeah I think so."

"Oh God" Kate sounded like she was having a panic attack as she started to move around frenetically.

"Kate, please stay calm. Try not to move too much." Jack said pleadingly, wrapping both his arms around her back.

Kate gasped for air, her breathing very uneven, sobs disturbing the vague rhythm that it had. "Do you think we're under ground?"

Jack hadn't really thought about it, he had kind of taken for granted that they hadn't been. Once more opening his eyes, Jack realized it was probably more logical that they were indeed under ground, surrounded by several layers of soil. That would explain the absolute darkness. They coffin was not a bought, expensive casket with silky fabrics on the inside and a perfect fitting lid. From what Jack had managed to detect with the help of his hands was that whatever it was they were in were just boards nailed together, meaning that at least a stripe of light should have been visible.

"I don't know Kate" Jack finally answered quietly once again not wanting to frighten her.

He could feel Kate's body trembling, her lips uttering small whimpers every now and then. It was driving him crazy but there was nothing he could do about it. He knew she was scared, he was too, but her anxiety bothered him a lot more than his own.

"Ssh, it's going to be okay" Jack tried quietly, in an attempt to calm her down.

He could feel Kate shaking her head against him causing small wet drops of tears to brush off against his neck. Kate nuzzled her head closer to his as a shaky hand grabbed a fistful of his shirt. "Jack… I can't breathe…"

"Of course you can." Jack said calmly gently rubbing her back with one of his hands. "Try to focus on my breathing, ok?"

He could hear Kate gasping softly, trying to breathe with his rhythm. She was soon breathing calmly and Jack felt her loosen the tight grip she had held on his shirt.

Tilting his head, Jack placed his lips against her temple, letting them linger there for a minute as he gently stroked her back with one hand whilst the other one was lost in her dark curls.

"I'm not very good with confined spaces" Kate divulged.

"It's okay, just try to relax. Everything is going to be okay" Jack said soothingly.

Several minutes past, Jack started to wonder if Kate might have fallen asleep when she broke the silence. "How long, Jack?" She asked bluntly in a strange voice, not sounding like herself at all.

"How long?" Jack asked back confused. "How long, until what?"

"We die…" Jack could tell that she was trying to sound nonchalant instead of scared, which wasn't working very well.

The question still took Jack off guard, not sure what he should respond. "What? We're not going to die Kate" He answered wearily.

"How long is it going to take until we run out of air?" Kate said, no longer bothering trying to sound strong or brave.

Jack sighed. "I don't know Kate"

A few minutes passed by, in silence. Jack registered every breath Kate took, the soft regular sound calming him down slightly. Unfortunately Kate's question had stuck in his head. For how long would the air in the coffin keep them alive? Statistically one person would most likely survive an hour on the air the casket supplied, but for the two of them probably more like half an hour, hopeful a little more.

But how long had he been unconscious? Jack felt alarmed. He could easily been out for half an hour, maybe even more.

Jack had never really been particularly claustrophobic, but right now it felt like the walls were closing in on him, walls he couldn't even see. He knew it was all in his head and tried his best to ignore it but failed, the feeling of confinement unexpectedly starting to affect his lungs. Gasping for air, Jack tightened his grip around Kate's body, feeling more helpless than he ever had before.

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_let me know what you thought_


	2. Chapter 2

_Thank you all so much for the reviews :)_

_Here is the second and last part of the story. I hope you like it._

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**Letting Go - Part 2**

There was a strange, dreamlike feeling over the situation. It felt like time stood still at the same time it was just floating by.

Jack wished he had his watch. He had lost it a couple of days ago, helping Locke hunt. It didn't really matter right now, because in here he wouldn't be able to see the time anyway.

Kate was resting lazily on his body, her head hidden in the crook of his neck. It was strange how the position they were in felt so natural. Jack had a feeling that if they hadn't been in this threatening situation things would have been a lot more awkward.

Kate shifted slightly, moving her head down to Jack's chest. "Jack?" She sounded distant, but not sleepy, more like she was mentally far far away.

"What's wrong?" Jack whispered back softly, as he gently moved his hand over her back. The fact that he still hadn't found the source of the blood from earlier worried him and he knew she was in a lot more pain than she revealed.

Kate tried to swallow a sob, burying her face in Jack's shirt. "I'm still cold"

Wrapping his arms tighter around her body, Jack realized that she was indeed shivering. "It's okay. It'll be alright, I promise."

"You can't promise that..."

"Yes I can. I'm not going to let anything happen to you" Jack said back stubbornly.

A few more seconds of silence passed by, until Kate once more shifted her body weight. "What's wrong with me Jack?" her voice was weaker, trembling on each word.

Jack's eyes shot open, not that it helped in the darkness. "What do you mean?"

"Why am I freezing?" Kate asked with a sob, moving if possible closer to Jack's warmer body. "My feet are numb… and I can't feel my fingers."

"Sshh." Jack fondled around with his hand until he finally found one of hers and brought it up to his lips. "It's just cold here. I'm cold too. It's going to be okay" After placing a soft kiss on her hand, Jack folded his hand over her smaller one, trying to keep it warm.

The pounding in his head was starting to get unbearable, he was no longer able to ignore it and unwillingly let out a painful groan.

"Jack?" Kate exclaimed in horror, panic evident in her voice.

"My head just hurts. Don't worry." Jack said, trying to hold his voice steady, not to scare her even more.

He knew they were running out of time. They needed to get out of there now. Moving slightly to the left, Jack tried to get on his side, pinning his back against the wall behind him. He tried without much force to kick the opposite wall with his left foot just to check if he could do it without hurting either of them.

"What are you doing?" Kate gasped as Jack's leg gently moved over hers and with a light bang hit the wooden surface on the other side.

"Just keep still" Jack whispered distractedly as he let one of his hands slide down from her waist to her hip. He wasn't even sure why he had done that, it wasn't like his hand would be able to keep her legs still.

Inhaling loudly, Jack closed his eyes and mentally focused on the spot he wanted to hit. Seconds later, his foot once more connected with the wood, this time with a lot more force. To Jack's distress the wall hadn't budged at all. It didn't work and he now had a pounding pain in his foot as well as his head.

Jack sighed disappointedly and moved back to the position he had been in earlier, with his back flat against the ground. Feeling Kate moved as well from what must have been an uncomfortable position, Jack inhaled the scent of her hair as she once more rested on top of him.

Jack punched the lid of the coffin with his elbow as hard as he could, but he already knew that he was in the wrong angle to get any real power into the hit. He grunted as the pain spread from his elbow throughout his body. Great, was he just torturing himself now?

Bending his arms on each side of Kate, Jack started pounding on the lid with his fists. Kate had buried her face in his neck, her lips and nose involuntarily brushing against his neck as he continued to strike against the solid lid.

"Jack please stop" Kate finally whispered helplessly, trying desperately to get hold of Jack's wrists.

He found himself gasping in pain as he could mentally follow the blood slowly running down the sides of his hands and down to his arms.

He felt Kate letting go of his wrists, her hands dropping heavily to his chest. Once more burying her face in the fabric of his shirt, Kate started crying. "Jack… I'm sorry that I lied to you"

What was she talking about? Jack tried to rewind the last minutes that had passed by in the coffin. She hadn't even talked that much. When had she lied to him?

"I'm sorry that I followed you and for getting kidnapped-"

Jack cut her off, before she had a chance to continue. He finally understood that she wasn't talking about anything recent, she was bring up things that had happened back at camp.

"Kate, it doesn't matter" Jack truthfully told her. It really didn't. The only thing that mattered right now was getting out of there.

The brunette had either not heard him or was completely ignoring what he had said as she continued the second he fell silent. "...and kissing you. I'm so sorry."

"Don't be. Please don't apologize, Kate. It doesn't matter and I'm still not sorry that you kissed me." Jack whispered back, his voice unusually light as he softly placed a kiss on her forehead.

"Please forgive me"

A chill ran though Jack's veins the second the words reached his ears. Her voice hadn't changed, nor had she moved, but the fact that she had just begged for his forgiveness gave her away.

She had given up.

"Kate, stop. We're going to get out of here, ok?" He was speaking more firmly now. There was no way he was going to let her give up that easily.

Feeling Kate shake her head slightly against his body, Jack felt tears welling up in his eyes. "Kate…"'

She was starting to hyperventilate, chocking on each one of her sobs.

"Kate, you have to calm down" Jack said worriedly as he carefully placed one of his hands on the back of her neck, gently rubbing it. Fear immediately spread through his body when he realized that he was smudging blood around.

It took him several seconds before he remember that he had banged his fists against the coffin lid hard enough to wound them. Thankful that it was his own blood he was smearing on Kate's neck and into her hair, Jack continued to try to calm her down.

"I'm sorry I kissed Sawyer…" Kate managed to get out between her sobs.

Jack was about to quiet her down when he once more heard her start a sentence with 'I'm sorry' but at the mention of Sawyer's name Jack couldn't manage to move his lips.

She had kissed Sawyer? When had she kissed Sawyer? He felt a knot in his stomach as well as nausea building up in his body.

"He said he'd give me the asthma medicine. You all thought he actually had it too." Kate whispered with a weak shameful voice.

Jack let out a mouth full of air that he wasn't even aware that he had been holding. Hearing the regret and sadness in her voice, broke Jack's heart. He just couldn't tell her to stop talking like he had before. He suddenly felt the need to make her understand that it was ok that it didn't matter.

"It's okay. It's in the past Kate. It doesn't matter to me. He lied to you, if he hadn't, you wouldn't have kissed him." Jack said slowly, thinking over the words as he said them. He had already known about that kiss, they had just never talked about.

Kate lifted her head from his chest, and from the movement of her hair that was still resting on his neck, Jack guessed that she was nodding.

He would have done anything to be able to see her. He could feel her breath on his lips, each one making him shiver. Even if he couldn't see her, he knew that she had moved her head closer to his. He wasn't exactly sure how far apart their faces were but probably not even an inch.

His thoughts were interrupted by Kate's soft lips gently brushing against his. He felt kind of stupid, he knew she had moved closer but it hadn't even hit him that she had planned to kiss him.

He let one of his hands run from her back and up into her tangled hair, as he slowly started to respond to the kiss. Jack teased her for a few seconds, nibbling on her lip before he pressed her closer to his body and put more force into the kiss and deepened it, losing himself completely in the process.

Moments later Kate pulled back because of lack of oxygen. She was breathing heavily as she lazily rested her head back against Jack's chest. Jack tilted his head slightly and placed a kiss on her forehead.

A few minutes passed by in silence. Jack followed Kate's heavy breaths going back to the shallow breathing from before. He was trying to come up with a new way to get out but the pounding in his head had resurfaced.

It worried him that Kate wasn't talking anymore. He could not only hear, but also feel each one of her breaths. Unfortunately they no longer had a calming effect on him. He wanted to hear her voice to be sure that she was okay.

"I want tell you what I did" Kate unexpectedly divulged. Her voice was not as steady as before, and it sounded drowned, like she was having trouble breathing or like she had trouble staying awake.

Jack had a flashback from the day on the beach when Kate had said those exact words to him. He founded himself repeating what he had responded back then. "I don't want to know. It doesn't matter, Kate."

She was still only trying to get things off her chest, he knew that. He did indeed want to know what she had done, he wanted her to open up to him, share her past with him, but not like this. It wasn't supposed to be like this at all. She was supposed to tell him everything because she wanted to, because she was ready to let him in. Not because she felt like it was her last chance to do so.

"It does." Kate whispered. "It matters to me"

"Kate, no. This is not you talking. When we get out of here you can tell me, if you still want to, okay?"

When there was no response, Jack sighed heavily. Great now she wasn't talking to him at all?

"Kate?" Jack tried softly, stoking her hair gently with his hand.

"Jack…" Her voice was faint and barely audible.

He could feel her take a fistful of his shirt as well hearing her inhale sharply in an attempt to fill her lungs that obviously wasn't cooperating with her at the moment.

This got him alert. She had trouble breathing again. "Kate? Please say something" He tried unsuccessfully to move her to her side in an attempt to make it easier for her to breathe.

He could hear her sobbing getting more and more drowned in the fact that she was choking. Her rapid unsteady breathing had slowly turned to small infrequent muffled sounds.

He could feel himself panicking. He needed to get her out, right now. With all the energy he had left, Jack smashed his right hand against the confiding ceiling.

He was able to feel the impact in slow motion. He could literally feel the bones in his hand getting crushed because of the force. He swore under his breath, knowing his hand was now completely useless.

Feeling Kate move slightly, Jack immediately turned his attention back to the brunette. "Kate?"

"Jack…" It sounded more and more like she was drifting off to sleep. He knew that if she did, it was a good chance she wouldn't wake up again.

"It's okay, I'm right here" Jack said reassuringly, caressing her cheek with the back of his not crushed hand.

"I love you" Kate managed to get out in a breathless whisper, making Jack's hand on her cheek freeze to the spot.

Letting the words wash over him, Jack pressed his lips tightly together. What was he supposed to answer to that? He knew she was in an unbelievably stressed situation, not thinking rationally at all, but that didn't mean it wasn't true. If he had let her talk earlier, giving her a chance to tell him about her past, he was sure she would have told him the truth and not lied about it. What was the point in opening up and letting things off your chest, if you lied?

Either way he couldn't say it back. It would mean he had given up as well. He couldn't. He couldn't let her down like that. One of them had to keep fighting.

He felt Kate once more shifting her weight on top of him, his hand sliding off her cheek and down to her neck in the process. She was disturbingly cold. Jack had noticed the second he had placed his hand on her cheek, but her neck felt even colder.

Jack started to feel groggy himself, having a hard time focusing on anything for longer than a second, but Kate's cold lips brushing against his ear definitely got his attention.

"Tell me you love me" She was begging, her voice was weak but still daring, letting him know that she was serious. She needed him to tell her.

"I can't" He remorsefully whispered back.

"Please tell me" She swallowed another sob as she once more took a handful of his shirt in her hand.

"No" Jack violently shook his head. "We're going to get out of here, do you hear me? I'll tell you when we're no longer trapped in here." He knew he sounded like a stubborn child but there was no way he would give in to this. There was no way he would give up.

"Please" Her voice was getting even weaker. From the sound of it, Jack was surprised she even had the energy to move her lips. "I need to hear you say it"

He suppressed a sob as he closed his eyes tightly, feeling the tears slide down his face. Reality was slowly sinking in. It was now a matter of minutes and realistically the chance of them getting out in a few minutes didn't even exist.

He knew they were under ground. He had known for a while, just refused to admit it to himself. The reason for the chilling cold was logically the fact that they were six feet under.

Feeling another tear forcing its way down his face, Jack gently tilted his head enough to rest it on top of Kate's. He let his hand run through her chocolate brown hair before settling it on her cold cheek.

"Kate?"

When he didn't get an answer he shifted slightly to get access to her neck. Moving them around he tried desperately to find a pulse. The second he realized there were none to be found he gave in to everything, the pain in his crushed hand, his foot and his pounding head but most of all the pain in his lungs.

He moved his hand away from her neck and managed to find her right hand. Holding a firm grip on it, Jack brought up to his lips.

"I love you Kate" Jack whispered as the darkness that had been surrounding him for over an hour finally absorbed his entire being.

The End

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_let me know what you thought..._


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